Some video of the dolphin we spotted on the James Eagan Layne yesterday

OMG we videoed us with a dolphin in Plymouth Sound!!

Dolphin.AVI Watch on Posterous

Brian, one of the Aquanauts Team was on a commercial dive course on Friday, when a rather friendly dolphin came and interfered with the class. It was absolutely amazing! We’ve never seen a dolphin come this close and stay for so long. Normally they swim in pods of between 2 and 50 and although sociable and intelligent, wild dolphins rarely interact with people. This lone bull dolphin must have been craving some company as he stayed and played with us all for about an hour. On Saturday we got some footage of him near the James Eagan Layne, and on Friday Aquanauts Instructor John was teaching an Open Water class at the waterfront when the same dolphin decided to join in. Apparently he was trying to interfere with John’s demonstrations and every time he took his mask off the dolphin kept nudging him, he then swam with our students for 20 minutes. Let’s hope he stays around for a bit longer for our evening dives this week.

Scuba diving may benefit those with spinal cord injuries

A preliminary study finds that scuba diving may help improve muscle movement, touch sensitivity and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in people with spinal cord injuries.

The small pilot study, presented Saturday at the Paralyzed Veterans of America conference in Orlando, Fla., involved 10 wheelchair-dependent disabled veterans who had suffered spinal cord injuries an average 15 years earlier and who underwent scuba diving certification. Pre-dive tests checked the participants' muscle spasticity, motor control, sensitivity to light touch and pinpricks, plus depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. Eight people completed the program and the study also included nine health controls who served as dive buddies.

Among the disabled vets, researchers found an average 15% drop in muscle spasticity, an average 10% increase in light touch sensitivity and an average 5% jump in sensitivity to pinprick. No one in the control group experienced any neurological changes.

On the mental health side of things, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms decreased an average 80%, all of which could not be attributed to the fact that the scuba training was done in a lovely Caribbean setting.

"What we saw in the water strongly suggests there is some scuba-facilitated restoration of neurological and psychological function in paraplegics," said study co-author Dr. Adam Kaplin in a news release. Kaplin is an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral services at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

While cautioning that these are preliminary results and more study needs to be done, Kaplin has some theories on why water and weightlessness promote positive effects in people with spinal cord injuries. Water may provide buoyant resistance training they can't find on land, and when in the water, breathing isn't hindered by sitting in a chair. The participants may have also benefited from tissues being extra oxygenated from pressurized air, possibly causing improvements in muscle tone and sensitivity.

"There's a signal," said Kaplin of the results, "but only by repeating these results and showing significant improvements can we establish that. It's too early to know for sure."

The idea for the experiment came from Cody Unser, founder of the Cody Unser First Step Foundation, a New Mexico-based nonprofit raising money and awareness for those with spinal cord-related paralysis. At the age of 12 Unser contracted transverse myelitis, an inflammation of the spinal cord that can cause muscle weakness or paralysis as well as pain or sensory issues. Unser, who is paralyzed from the chest down, has been treated at Johns Hopkins and told Kaplin that she and others in wheelchairs recovered some feeling in their legs after scuba diving.

It's not diving but this IS an Amazing Bike vid!!

Aquanauts Dive Club having a lot of fun in Gozo!

12 of our dive club members are currently sunning themselves over in Gozo, diving crystal clear waters and huge artificial wrecks. It’s kinda left the rest of us here back at the dive centre feeling a little bit jealous! Especially when we find photos from old club trips like this one... I wonder what they’re up to??? Meanwhile back in Plymouth it’s been perfect weather for the America’s Cup World Series, and perfect weather for divers to go to pubs!

Compass from an unknown Spanish wreck site

A couple of Wednesday nights ago, I was out diving with our Archaeology group on the debris field of an unknown and uncharted World War II wreck site outside Plymouth breakwater. One of the guys found this little beauty which was brought up to help identify the site - Brian